of chicago



A. M. BATES.

PROCESS OF WIRE TYING BAGS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 9. 1918.

1,348,346. at nted Aug. 3, 1920.

Attorngg UNITED STATES PATENT Oh'hititif ADELMER MARCUS BATES, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASBIGNOR 'IO BATES VAT FIE BAG COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION' OF WEST VIRGINIA.

rnocnss or WIRE-Trina BAGS.

Application filed February 9,-1918.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ADELMER MARCUS Barns, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Processes of Wire-Tying Bags, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the process of closing or tying the open mouth of bags. The process, generally speaking, consists-in first puckering the open mouth of the bag, then loopinga tie about it, seizing hold of the two ends of the tie and exerting a tension upon them and then by hand twisting the free ends of the tie about one another to tie the bag. The invention maybe car ried out with a number of devices and arrangements. I prefer a specific simple form which I have shown in the, accompanying specification and drawing.)

The invention is illustrated more or less diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing, whereinr V Figure 1 shows aside, elevation of an operator using my tool; V i

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of the tool;

Fig. 3 is a similar enlarged view of the tool after the twisting operation has taken place showing a plan view of the tool itself;

Fig. 4 is aside elevation, of a modified form of my invention; I

Fig. 5 is 'aplan view offa different form Fig. 6 is a front elevation of a different form of tie holder or hook Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are different forms of ties which may be used.

Like parts are i d'cated by like. characters in all the figures. j N

A is a bow-shaped twisting handle flattened at A and apertured at A to engage a holding thong or cord A which may be fastened to the belt A of the operator. It may be tied around his waist or it may be tied on his arm depending on: his convenience and preference. The handle is fiattened at the opposed end and mortised as at A". Riveted to such flattened end is a single hook A which hook is adapted to engage loops A A on the opposed ends of a tie A which tie in turn is adapted to surround the puckered end A of a bag A.

In Figs. 4:, 5 and 6 I have shown a dif ferent form of tie holding means. It takes the form of a broad fiat hook B having slots Specification of Letters Patent.

Serial No. 216,395.

B B forming a kind of claw. These slots are of such depth that they engage and hold the upset ends B B of a tie and are of such depth, if necessary that the two ties may be superposed one upon another. This hook B, with or without the slots, may also he used to twist a ring tie C. If this were bentthe ring tie would be placed as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5 and whether the ring tie or upset tie is used the twisting operation is used; The difference between thering tie and-the other two ties is that It will be understood that when the tying tool has been removed from engagement with the tie which has just been tied, it

1 leaves the loops, if it is the hook tool, superposed one on the other and held closely together so that in transit the chances are that they will never be disarranged andit will 'be easy to place another hook through them to untwist; but when the claw which holds and twists the upset. ends 1s used it frequently happens that the upset ends, although left in such position, can easily be gripped by the claw, and will be bent together so that this becomes diflicult. It is under these circumstances that the central long finger as shown becomes valuable. This finger being more or less pointed can be thrust between the two ends of the tie if there is any distance at all between them f and when they are forced down by it they will be wedged about until they find their place in the two slots. Thus under all practical conditions the two upset ends may be separated for untwisting.

It will be evident that while I have shown in my drawings an operative device, still many changes might be made both in size, shape and arrangement of parts without departing materially from the spirit of my invention and I wish, therefore, that my drawingbe regarded as in a sense diagrammatic.

The use and operation of my invention are as follows 1-- The operator having the thong which holds his tool attached to his body or arm, and frequently the operators prefer to at- Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

tach it to the upper arm above the elbow,

:ered neck of the bag, engages the free end of the tie with the twisting hook and then holding the puckered neck of the bag, preferablyab'ove the tie, backs off a little or pulls back ,on his right arm so as to exert a tension inthe thong. The purpose of exerting. this tension is to ,make sure that a fixed axialline is located about which the twisting can'take place. That fixed axial line is one parallel with and an extension of the thong passing through the two ends of the handle and through the neck of the bag and where it is engaged by the tie. He then rotates the tool with his free hand rotating it about the fixed axis formed by the tension in the cooperating parts until the tie is snugly twisted about the neck of the bag. The number ofturns depends on the length of the tie and size of the bag. Preferably this is ordinarily about three turns. He then releases the tension, unhooks or disengages the tie and passes on to the next job; The tool is so light that he can just let go ofit and when it drops down if it should strike him it does no harm. The thong twists or untwists with the. movement of the tooland he need pay no attention to it. If for any reason the thong should not untwist, he can twist it inthe opposite direction for the next operation and return the thong to normal. Experience shows that the thong is more satisfactory than the swivel. It is made :of leather and twists with less friction than would a specially provided swivel device.

Obviously the hooks which I have shown operate soilong as they engage and hold the tie. A time may come, however, when the hook will wear out, though it is of hardened steel and of long life. If it is necessary to cut away the rivets and replace the worn out hook with another, the tool will be as good as new. The thong may be gated body having a twisting handle or hand engaging part. Obviously the whole thing is one piece but the twlstmg handle 1s that part of the curved or ollset body which is engaged by the hand of the operator when he rotates it to twist the tie.

Obviously the sole purpose of the thong and the tension exerted thereby is to fix the axis of rotation of the tie while the tie is being twisted. I care nothing about the axis of rotation at any other time and in fact it is convenient to move the tool so that as twisting is taking place the axis about which the tool rotates will be fixed and this fixation of this twisting axis might obviously be obtained by means other than those illustrated, though I prefer owing to their cheapness and simplicity, the thong and tension apparatus. The thong, of course,

when taut is in effect a rigid bar and so a rigid bar might be substituted and this would amount to keeping the thong taut at all times. I claim:

1. The method of closing a bag which consists in placing a tie about its mouth,

applying tension by pulling on the ends of such tie and during such tension and entirely independently of such pulling :ulilon rotating the ends by hand to tighten the tie about the bag.-

2. The method of closing a bag which consists in placing a tie about its mouth, applying tension by pulling on the ends of such tie and during such tension rotating the ends by direct manual rotation to tighten the tie about the bag.

In testimony whereof, I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses this 2nd day of February, 1918.

ADELMER lrIAR-(TUS lrlajlldt.

Witnesses:

MINNIE M. LINDENAU, MARION L. INGRAHAM. 

